, 1887-03-30
WHERE ANo HOW JET IS FOUND.


Claims OF tho whitby People in Regard
to Its Formation.
Jet is u shining black substance which
is found in seams dissociated from other
black minerals, and not in the coal regions
Of England, but in others, notably near
Whitby, in Yorkshire. 1t occurs also in
Saxony and in the amber districts on the
Prussian shores of the Baltic. The scicn-
lists maintain that it is a variety Of coal,
but the Whitby folks adduce many cir
cumstance5 hat 30 10 prove that it must
have been at some time in n glimmy or
semi-liquid state quite unlike coal from
ligneous sources. Bits of vegetable sub
stances are often found imbedded in it,
also flies wings and other small articles,
which favor the Whitby theory.
The stratum called jet rock is found
mostly at Whitby, in a sort of shale,
which, when distilled, yields ten gallons
Of oil a ION The nature of the connec-
ton between this oil and jet cannot now
be determined, though some connection
evidently existed in past times. There is
hard jet and soft jet, the former being
tho best. 1t occurs in detached pieces,
ranging in size from a domino up to those
many pounds in weight. Tho largest
pitNC Ofci lOdhu Wso olA lCtt lOuBi hNO
inches wide and one and a half inches
thick. The British museum refused to
give ten guineas for it, but q dealer paid
fifteen for it and cut it up into CRISES of
unusual size. How long jet, or black
amber, as it was formerly called, has
been worked at Whitby is not known,
but certainly for many centuries.
In a tumulus or barrow near the town
the skeleton of a lady was found, sup
posed to belong to the ancient British
days, before the date of the Danish in
v~asions, and with it were earrings Of jet
two inches long by a quarter Of an inch
thick. They were heart shaped, with a
holo in the upper part for the wire. Jet
possesses considerable electric qualitioJ
like amber. 1t was made into beads and
rosaries in tho middle ages by the monks.
AS q trade it had not much activity till
the beginning Of the present century.
The Spaniards made beads and ~rosaries OF
the loft kind Of jet, and when English
ladies began to wear it in mourning the
Whitby industry began to flourish. At
first . w. ':ers used only knives and
files. but Matthew Hill discovered a
method of turning this brittle SUBJ
stance in a lathe. The largest find
ever made was forty years ago, at North
Bats, a spot in the n~eighborhood
Of Whitby, and consisted of $40 pieces of
stones. valued at S1,250. The jet is
picked up on the shore, at the foot of the
cliffs, but this is of an inferior quality.
A dangerous mode of obtaining it is to
cut down the face of the cliff, until a jet
seam is reached. 1t is also tunneled for
twenty miles inland, near Bilsdale, in the
Cleveland hills. The men rent the work
ings, as in the copper and tin mines Of
Cornwall, and they may work o month
without coming across a bit of the
precious stuff. The prices for the best
hard jet is three shillings a pound; for
the soft, n shilling. The Whitby
variety is the finest known, as 1t is
tougher and more elastic than any other,
and admits of a higher polish. Many
articles sold in the shops as Whitby jet
are derived from the Pyrenees, and are
liable to break through sudden heat or
cold. which is due to a slight per cent. Of
sulphur in the Spanish variety.